


Once I Take A Breath (I Can Finally Breathe)

by Queen_Martia



Series: Camileda AU [4]
Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Bisexual Camilia Noceda, Bisexual Eda, Eda's Monster Form, F/F, Gen, Getting Together, Light Angst, Mild Hurt/Comfort, but they don't show up in this, oops all bisexuals, well no willow is pan and gus is gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:48:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26413675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Queen_Martia/pseuds/Queen_Martia
Summary: Worried that her daughter isn't answering her, Camilia crosses over to check on her and Eda, and gets the shock of a lifetime.(No I will not clarify that title)
Relationships: Camilia Noceda & Luz Noceda, Eda Clawthorne & Luz Noceda, Eda Clawthorne/Camilia Noceda
Series: Camileda AU [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1908874
Comments: 57
Kudos: 351





	Once I Take A Breath (I Can Finally Breathe)

**Author's Note:**

> me: hey, maybe we should try and stick to the tone of the episode-  
> brain: FEMSLASH. FLUFF. TALKING ABOUT FEELINGS.  
> me:  
> me: or we could do that.
> 
> So yeah, I couldn't wait any longer, these two are now in wlw with each other.  
> Also, a commenter on the last work brought up that ADD is often passed down through families, so from now on Camilia has undiagnosed ADD, hence the caffeine and chocolate fixation  
> Happ borth Finn! (It's a day early but whatever, I love 'em)
> 
> EDIT: We have fanart people! And it's gorgeous!  
> https://http-primebi.tumblr.com/post/629278463091703808/them  
> 

It was thundering by the time Camilia got home, the rain coming down in thick sheets. She sighed as she turned the engine off, listening to the pitter-patter of the rain on the roof of the car. There was nothing to do tonight- she had tomorrow off, the bills were paid, and her house was as empty as ever.

Once the rain seemed like it had lessened, Camilia headed inside and set a pot of coffee to boil, running her fingers through her hair to try and soothe the incoming headache. Oddly enough, she hadn’t gotten any texts from Luz since that morning. She tried to call her daughter, only for her to immediately go to voicemail.

“Hmm.” While she trusted that it wasn’t anything dangerous, she still wanted to wish her daughter good night. She turned the coffee maker off and grabbed an umbrella from the closet- she’d forgotten to take it in this morning with her to work, but now she headed out into the storm towards the cabin.

When she stepped through, she was surprised to find the house was dark. She turned the flashlight on her phone on and scanned the area, her heart spiking at the scene- the floor was covered in jagged claw marks, Hooty’s door was off its hinges, and broken glass and branches were scattered everywhere.

She took a deep breath to call for Luz, then paused. If whatever caused this mess was still in the house, she didn’t want to bring it chomping at her throat. She swallowed around the lump in her throat and inched her way over to the wall, turning off her phone just in case.

Camilia felt the draft of the storm in the Isles coming in from the doorway, bringing the smell of acid and burnt wood. She crept forward, towards the hallway where Luz’s room was. Hopefully her daughter was okay- hopefully Eda was with her.

She froze at the sound of claws on wood, tapping closer and closer towards her. She swallowed against the bile rising in her throat and curled slowly into a tight ball, protecting her vital areas and making herself as unthreatening as possible. Who knew what monsters lurked in the Boiling Isles?

There was a growl a few feet in front of her, claws sinking into the rug under her knees. The creature prowled forward, breathing slow and deep. Camilia felt her fingernails clenching so hard into the meat of her palm that a thin trickle of blood ran down her skin.

The creature took a deep breath, a soft trill coming from its mouth. A long, jagged claw scratched at her wrist, though it lacked any sort of force or malice behind it. Slowly, so slowly she could count her heartbeats, Camilia raised her head out of her arms.

In the dim light was the monster, six or seven feet tall and ten feet broad. It had jagged, broken teeth, large black eyes, ears the size of her arms- Camilia shut her eyes, trying not to scare herself any more than she already was.

The monster crooned slowly, rumbling like a cat. Camilia flinched as it fluffed out two big wings. It began to hoot rhythmically, in a string of four-and-five.

It took Camilia a moment to place it, but she blanched. “No, no, I’m not a moth… owl… thing. I’m a human person, not a you.” The monster ignored her protests, pressing forward to click its teeth much too close to her for comfort. She reached a hand out, but the monster flinched away, eyes narrowing. “Hey, no, it’s okay. Uh, good girl?”

The monster took a step back, its face highlighted by the light filtering in from outside, and Camilia gasped. Her face- it was malformed and warped, and her eyes seemed unfocused, but this monster, or beast, or whatever it was, was Eda.

“ _Ay, dios mio,”_ she muttered. “Eda, do you recognize me? It’s Camilia.” Eda tilted her head, ear twitching as if she recognized the name. “What happened to you, Eda?”

Eda crooned, stepping forward cautiously. She let Camilia run gentle fingers through the fluff on her head and neck, picking out splinters and pieces of plant matter.

“That’s it,” Camilia murmured softly. “Easy does it, now.” She ran her fingers along the edge of Eda’s ear, causing her to chirp and wiggle her body. Camilia pressed her forehead to Eda’s, just breathing for a few moments. “Is Luz okay?”

Eda blinked at the mention of Luz, getting to her feet. “Do you know where she is?” Camilia asked, but Eda just stared blankly back at her. “Where is Luz?”

Eda darted off down a hallway, Camilia hot on her heels. She stopped at a closed door, shoving at it with a shriek of frustration. “Easy,” Camilia told her, trying the knob only to find it locked. She took a deep breath. “Mija? Are you in there?”

There was a moment of silence, before her phone buzzed.

_From: Lulu_

_Mami what are you doing here?_

Eda chirruped and made grabby-claws at her phone, but Camilia thumbed it off and Eda made a whine of sadness. “I came to check on you, sweetheart. Then I saw the house was destroyed, and now Eda’s some kind of moth-owl-thing, and- what happened? Are you okay?”

_From: Lulu_

_Yeah I’m okay.  
King gave me a potion to drink to try and give me magic  
But it turns out that was some kind of medicine for Eda  
And now she’s this_

Camilia cussed loudly and vibrantly. “What is the first lesson I taught you?”

_From: Lulu_

_I didn’t know it was medicine!  
But how did you get past Eda?_

Camilia sighed, running a hand through Eda’s neck fluff idly. “I don’t know. I froze up when she found me, but I guess some part of her recognized me?” Her thumb smeared some of the blood on her hand across her palm, and she grimaced. “Are you hurt?”

_From: Lulu_

_No Eda didn’t hurt us  
(Me or King)  
But she kinda chased us down?  
Wonder why she didn’t with you._

Camilia sighed. “Maybe she chased because you ran. Do you remember that lesson about predators?” Eda headbutted her for attention, and Camilia rolled her eyes, rubbing her ear affectionately. “Or maybe the stress of transforming made her lose her senses.”

_From: Lulu_

_Yea I guess that makes sense  
Should I come out?_

“I thought you did that in eighth grade?” Camilia chuckled. “Unless Eda has more of that medicine sitting around, I’d stay in there for now. Love you, Mija.”

There was a moment of silence, and then Luz’s voice filtered through the door. “Love you too, Mami.” Eda reared up at the sound of Luz’s voice, but Camilia placed a firm hand on the back of her neck warningly. Eda or not, she didn’t trust that the woman was in her right mind at the moment. Better her neck on the line than Luz’s.

Eda followed Camilia up to her room, in the center of which was a large nest. “You really need a bed,” she told Eda, who seemed content to hop up into the nest. She let out a forlorn whimper as Camilia breezed past her nest towards her dresser. “There’s got to be some of that potion in here some- _where!”_ She shrieked as she was dragged back into Eda’s nest, the woman-turned-beast slinging a wing over her with a satisfied coo.

“Eda, I am trying to help you, and you are being very difficult right now!” Camilia told her, but Eda just gave her a jagged grin, rubbing her cheek along Camilia’s neck.

After several minutes of tugging back and forth, Eda finally let Camilia leave her nest with a whine. Camilia dug through the dresser and turned up nothing but clothes and rat skeletons. “Gross,” she muttered, tossing one aside with a clatter.

After about ten minutes of digging, Camilia came across a spherical vial of golden liquid. The tag read “ _An elixir a day keeps the curse at bay.”_

“Perfect!” she cheered. “Eda, c’mere, medicine… time…” Eda wasn’t in her nest, or in the hallway. Panic tore through her as she raced down to the room that Luz was in, her breath hitching as she saw the open door. “ _LUZ!”_

She halted in the doorway. Dozens of little lights floated around the room, with Eda fixated on one she was batting back and forth with a clawed hand.

“Mama!” Luz tackled her into a hug, breathing deep. “Thank goodness you’re okay, I thought Eda might have hurt you.”

“No, no, I’m okay.” Camilia held up the vial of elixir. “Did Eda do this?” she asked.

“No- watch!” Luz scribbled something on a piece of paper, and the paper turned into another ball of light, floating up into the air. She did a little happy dance, eyes bright. “I can do magic!”

“That’s…” While Camilia wanted to argue that such a thing should be impossible, the proof was in the paper. She settled for running her hand through Luz’s hair gently. “C’mon. Let’s get this in Eda.”

Eda chirped at her name and padded up to Camilia, sniffing at the bottle. Camilia carefully uncapped the bottle and held it to Eda’s mouth, pouring the liquid slowly down her throat.

As the bottle was beginning to empty, Eda began to change. Her feathers retreated back into her skin, her wings disappeared, and her pupils slowly shrank until her eyes were golden once more. With a groan, Eda collapsed into her arms, herself once more.

Camilia sighed. “Well, this has been a night and a half. C’mon, let’s get her on the couch and then I can start cleaning up this mess.”

With Luz and King’s help, they managed to place Eda on the couch, one of the few areas unharmed by Eda’s beastly rampage. After some searching Camilia managed to turn up two brooms, handing one to Luz and giving King the dustpan. “Here. Keep your shoes on, and if you find any broken glass let me handle it, okay?”

“Yes, mom.” Luz didn’t seem all that upset by having to clean, if the fact that she was doodling more Light up was any tell. Camilia watched with a fond look in her eyes, but there was still plenty of work to do, enough that she’d have to pitch in for a good part of tomorrow. So much for a day off.

After an hour or so of intensive cleaning, the three of them had managed to put tarp up over the broken windows, had mostly swept up the floor and removed broken furniture, and were finally settling down at the edge of the couch. “That should be enough for tonight,” Camilia mumbled, slinging an arm over Luz’s shoulder as King settled in her lap. “Let me head back home for a few minutes, I’ll grab the air mattress and some sheets.”

Luz grinned tiredly. “Sleepover?”

“Sleepover.”

Camilia was in her house longer than she needed to be to grab the air mattress and her favorite comforter. She shoved in her phone charger, the jar of instant coffee, several chocolate bars she had stored away for when she needed a sugar boost, a couple of flashlights, and a thing of wet wipes.

By the time she crossed back over into the Owl House, Eda was coming to on the couch. As she caught sight of Camilia coming thorugh the portal, her expression changed from confusion to shame. “Camilia… I transformed, didn’t I?”

“Yes, you did.” Camilia placed the air mattress down, irritation spiking in her gut. “Why didn’t you tell me- or Luz, for that matter, that you had that sort of curse?”

Eda looked down into her lap, intertwining her fingers. “I’m sorry,” she started, her voice more subdued than Camilia had heard before. “It’s not something I’m proud of, and I didn’t want you to think I wasn’t handling it. Normally, if I take my elixir, everything’s fine, but this dose went missing from right out under my nose.” She bit her lip. “When I was out- did I hurt you? Or Luz? Or King?”

Camilia sighed. Much as she wanted to hold onto her anger, there were more pressing concerns. “No, no one’s hurt.”

“Well, that’s not true,” King said from the kitchen. “Poor Snaggleback got his tail digested.”

“Snaggle- what?” Deciding that she didn’t want to get off topic, she pressed forward. “Eda, if you had told me about this before we could have avoided this whole problem. I wish you had just been honest with me.”

“I know,” Eda mumbled. “I’m sorry.”

Camilia sighed. “But…” She took Eda’s hands in her own. “I understand where you’re coming from. My father had a chronic illness when I was a kid, and he didn’t tell me that until I was fifteen, because he wanted to be strong for me.”

Eda nodded, still not looking her in the eye. “I’d understand if you don’t trust me anymore.”

Camilia rubbed her fingers along Eda’s knuckles gently. “I’m willing to give it a second chance. But promise me you won’t keep any more secrets?”

“If that’s the case, then I’ve got to come clean.” Eda ran a hand down her hair. “I’m not gonna lie, I know I’m rushing into things here. But I- I want a relationship. With you.” Eda’s hands shook. “I want to work on it, and to get to know you better, and have you in my life. Please.”

Camilia blinked. “We really are rushing, huh?” she laughed softly. “But I want this, too. I’d really like to get to know you.” She brushed a lock of hair behind Eda’s ear. “Can I kiss you, Eda the Owl Lady?”

Eda gave a growl and pulled Camilia to her mouth, lips clashing. It was, frankly, a terrible first kiss- Eda’s mouth tasted horrible, her fang caught on Camilia’s teeth, and there was too much force from the both of them.

Camilia still felt giddy regardless.

“Okay, I swept the upstairs hallway, and- UGH! That’s disgusting!” Camilia broke apart to see a scandalized Luz standing in the doorway, broom in hand. She waved the handle at Eda. “Stop doing that, that’s my mom!”

“I know,” Eda purred, looking like the cat that caught the canary. “You got a problem with two women getting affectionate, Luz?”

“Yeah! When one of those women is my _mom!_ ” Luz groaned and disappeared down the hall. “I don’t want to know about my mom’s love life.”

Feeling a little cheeky, Camilia called out after her. “How do you think you were made, Mija?”

“Lalalala, I can’t hear you!”

“It wasn’t parthenogenesis, I’ll say that much.”

“NOT LISTENING!”

Camilia laughed as her daughter fled upstairs, away from the horrible onslaught of having to see her mother interacting with someone romantically. “For someone who likes the odd and taboo, she sure does get flustered by silly things,” she giggled.

Eda opened her mouth to say something but was cut off with a yawn. “Ugh. Transformations always take it out of me.”

She stood, presumably to go to her nest, but Camilia kept a gentle grasp on her hand. “Wait,” she asked. “I have an air mattress, I just need to set it up. Maybe tonight, you could sleep down here with me?”

Eda’s face shifted for a second into something unreadable, but she smiled and nodded. “I’d love that.”

**Author's Note:**

> king: hey, your mom and eda are sleeping together  
> luz: i need all the brain bleach


End file.
